Fluffy, light YA romances have been a kind of guilty pleasure for me for quite a while. They tend to be safer and slightly more fun. "Love a la Mode" did not disappoint in this regard either.

Rosie and Henry were sweet characters and their differing passions for food (one for cooking, one for baking and both for eating) was the real draw for me. A sweet, teen romance based in an prestigious French cooking school? Well, I want to read it.

I appreciated the development of the characters and the depth of their backgrounds--I could, regardless of the fluffly storyline, care about them and the work they were going through. I struggled with the pettiness of the breakdown of their relationship (well, the breakdown of the beginning of their relationship). Communication, even one yelled out in frustration would have felt better for me (as the reader) than for the silent shuffling away with the, "s/he must not really like me" thoughts that followed.

I know that with this portion of the YA world you shouldn't nail too many corners against the wall, but I still felt let down somehow with this title. I did enjoy it---just not as much as I did some of Strohm's other light titles.

I received a complementary copy of this title in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was a delectable treat! I loved every moment of the cooking school experiences and the budding romance between Rosie and Henry. The missteps and the friendships made for a truly delicious story that will delight young adults everywhere.

A delicious description of two teenagers who have been accepted to culinary school in France. Mouthwatering descriptions of food and its preparation.

Super adorable love story! Mixed with comedy, pastry, and Paris!

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC for an unbiased review!

This was totes adorable in a Sophie Kinsella-esq way! i really loved the light hearted feel of the plot and the m,ain character was so much fun to read! The cover pulled me in first! And im one all for rom-coms , so when i read the description i knew i was hooked! From page one i did not put this book down!

As soon as I saw Love a la Mode, I was here for it. Two teens falling in love at cooking school in Paris? YES, PLEASE. I'm happy to say this one didn't disappoint!

I've been describing this as a  more diverse, less problematic version of Anna and the French Kiss, but with endless delicious food descriptions. Basically, the perfect YA contemporary, tbh. In Love a la Mode, we follow two perspectives: there's Rosie, an American from a small Ohio town who juggles her love of baking with taking care of her mom and siblings; then there's Henry, a Chicago native who grew up in the kitchen of his father's Korean restaurant. Both of them have been accepted to famous Chef Denis Laurent's elite cooking school in Paris. 

Of course, the setting was wonderful and different and the perfect backdrop for a romance, but what really cemented my enjoyment of this book was the cast of characters! The school is home to students from all around the world, from all different backgrounds. I loved how diverse Rosie and Henry's friend group was-- it felt very realistic. We see all of these characters bring their own personal and cultural backgrounds into the kitchen with them, and it was so heartwarming. Yumi and Marquis in particular were favorites, but the entire friend group's dynamic was so much fun to read. Despite being at an elite cooking school and spending a year of high school in Paris, these are just teenagers being teenagers. I loved it. 

The romance was definitely a slow burn, and if you don't like the miscommunication trope, I would steer clear of this one. Henry and Rosie first meet on the flight to Paris, and their attraction is instant, but it takes virtually the entire book for the two to finally get together. There are endless misunderstandings that could've been easily cleared up with some good, old fashioned communication, but honestly, I didn't even mind. These two characters had so much chemistry, and I was rooting for their romance the whole time. There is a bit of a love triangle, as well, which was just *shrug*. While the romance definitely employs a lot of common YA tropes, these characters are teenagers who make teenage mistakes, and I can't fault them (or the author) for that. 

If you're an avid watcher of baking and cooking shows like myself, you're going to love this. All of the descriptions of food and baked goods made me ravenous, and I went to get crepes pretty much immediately after finishing this, haha. I also loved reading about the chefs' different processes in the kitchen. There was a healthy dose of competition between all the students, which added some high stakes to every day in the kitchen.

Overall, if you're looking for a cute YA contemporary that is exactly what it claims to be-- fluffy romance between two teenage chefs studying in Paris-- I can't recommend Love a la Mode highly enough!

Have you read Love a la Mode? If so, let's discuss below! What's your favorite baked good?

Review will be posted on November 7, 2018

Summary: Ruby Radeke loves to bake more than anything. She is the star of every potluck in her small Ohio town. Henry Yi loves to cook and hopes to someday follow in his father’s footsteps and own a restaurant. Henry and Rosie meet on a flight to Paris where they will both be attending the prestigious Chef Laurent’s École. The two form an instant connection however the stress of the prestigious program, Henry’s family pressures, and Rosie’s friendship with bad boy baker, Brodie Tal, may keep them apart.

Review: This book has everything in that usually makes me squee with nerdy joy…but it just didn’t quite work for me. I enjoyed the premise and have a vast history of loving books that have to do with baking or cooking and I especially love books that have some kind go baking or cooking contest. But I just never cared about any of this in “Love à la Mode” and that is because I never cared about the characters. Strohm did a fine job of crafting diverse characters coming from a variety of backgrounds but they never felt real to me. The distant third person narrative made the characters feel flat and unfortunately making it impossible for me to care about their travails at cooking school. However, as I became frustrated with the character I did hold out hope that the book’s Parisian setting would save it the novel for me but that didn’t feel quite developed either. Basically, I ended up reading a book that was on the top of TBR list but that never quite lived up to author’s last book and I was left a very frustrated reader. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is a super cute book. The characters and their stories are perfectly fine. Plus, the PG-ness of their French adventures will make it a great book for tween. I had just expected more and was disappointed by the final product.

I loved this story! Two young people meet on a plane to Paris and discover they are attending the same culinary high school run by fictional Chef Laurent. Rosie is a girl from small town Ohio who loves to bake and cook for her mother and 4 brothers. Henry's parents own a restaurant in Chicago where he cooks and runs the register on weekends. They meet the other Americans in the class and soon join other students from all over the world, come to learn from the famous Chef. The only catch is that they aren't automatically invited back for the Spring semester - they must each earn their own place. All the students have culinary experience but learn their strengths and weaknesses in the kitchen and with each other. The cooking scenes were just as entertaining as their exploration of Paris. It was obvious that Rosie and Henry were going to fall in love, but there are many obstacles, culinary and personal, they must over come. My only complaint about this book was that I feel like I gained 20 pounds just from reading the descriptions of the fantastic food and imaginative dishes created and experienced by the students. Stephanie Kate Strohm has a flair for making you feel like you can taste and smell the food she's describing. This novel covered the first semester at L'Ecole - I hope she continues the tale!

I was pretty disappointed by this. I had high hopes because I love food and books that revolve around some sort of culinary thing, but the romance utterly ruined the book for me. It was entirely infuriating and they started to like each other as soon as they met on the plane. They were obsessed with each other. Honestly Bodie and her would have made a bit more sense? but also I wish they could have been best friends without any romantic feelings ruining it.

Cute story. I enjoyed it. The kids made friendships that will last a lifetime. I really enjoyed the story of them learning new ways to cook.

I always enjoy this author - very cute fun reads. I liked the setting of this book - a cooking school in Paris. Both of the main characters were likable but their relationship fell flat for me at times. I did enjoy the ending and overall I liked this book and would recommend best for 12-16 year old students. 3.5 stars

This started out super cute and I really liked the idea, but I didn't fully buy the relationship as much as I needed to because most of the conflict ends up being solely about the relationship and I just didn't care that much. They kiss once but don't have a conversation about their relationship and then suddenly they're both obsessing over everything (mostly Henry) and I wasn't invested enough. I liked the friendships that develop and the found family dynamic that's kinda happening, but the friendship does get passed over once two relationships are introduced. I would've liked more emphasis on the friendships with a slower building romance. This definitely made me hungry and I didn't hate it - I just didn't care about what became the central conflict, at least for Henry. Rosie has a lot more going on and she didn't obsess quite as much, but the romance just overtook everything else and not in a good way, for me.

First and most important: If you plan on reading this cute and fun contemporary novel based at a school for chefs in Paris, be prepared to be hungry. For anything from mashed potatoes, to bread to decadent desserts.

Love à la Mode was a fun and cute read. I am no chef, in fact I'm pretty sure my knife skills are a billion times worse than Rosie, but I do know a lot of the terms thanks to Food Network. I definitely had to look up a bunch of the dishes and then have my mouth water. I've been go Paris and know a little of the layout and they never specifically name any locations other than big ones which is good and didn't make it confusing.

As a 27 year old married woman, the kind of drama that happened with Henry and Rosie and etc., was a bit annoying at times, but teens will likely relate to it a lot more since they are the target audience.

Overall a very cute and fun read. 3.5/5

2.75 stars.
This was a cute book about two aspiring teen cooks who make it into an exclusive cooking school. Henry is a fantastic cook while Rosie struggles with the basics but excels at baking. It is her everything. I was attracted to the premise because I'm a big baker and I love baking romances, even when they're YA.
I felt that this book was pretty average for me. I enjoyed it but nothing stood out and it basically ended all wrapped up in a bow. I did like that Rosie wasn't perfect in the kitchen and that the author showed her struggles. The technical terms and the references towards Food Network shows was a nice touch. What I liked most about the story was set in the kitchen and then once they were out of it, it got a little too cliche and juvenile for me. Most of Henry and Rosie's problems could have been solved with communication, which seemed to be lacking somewhat. Henry was overly jealous over the littlest things and that got annoying pretty quickly. It's never cute when I'm reading about a character getting angry over another guy and girl hugging because that's an immature response. Once they talked it out and established their friendship and relationship, things improved. I liked reading about the culture of Paris and their love of cooking/baking but nothing stood out as amazing to me. One nitpicky thing is that the author really loves to italicize words. Her characters were just so excited or passionate about so much. There are better ways to show it than to over-italicize things. I was starting to read those sentences like how Chandler Bing speaks in Friends. Could that be more annoying?
I think the younger teen would enjoy this book and anybody who has a passion for cooking and baking.

Teens interested in cooking/baking will enjoy this story. Teens who like a little romance would also enjoy it. Not a book of great depth, but a decent story.

This book was fun to read and was the perfect light pairing with some of my more intense reads of the last month (lookin' at you, Reaper at the Gates). My main problem with this was that it didn't really make me feel anything, at least not the way that her last book, Prince in Disguise, made me feel. (Review for which can be found here). Basically, this was a lot of fluff and not a lot of heart.

The concept here is great, I love the fact that two people are eating and falling in love in Paris, what's more romantic than that? One of the bigger problems I have with the book is the fact that the plot itself is pretty stagnant; there's no shocking revelations, no giant, dramatic fights between the main protagonists. Sure, there are a few smaller issues that pop up between Henry and Rosie, but they don't stay mad at each other for more than five minutes. See, we spend a lot of time in the kitchen and classroom, and not a lot of time focusing on other things. It's really kind of blah.

I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the characters in this, as well. First, I loved all the side characters. Yumi, Priya, and especially Hampus, were all so funny and dynamic and the banter between the group was enough to push this story along. Heck, I was even super into Bodie Tal, because a hot guy covered in tattoos who can bake a phenomenal cookie? Sign me up. Also, there was a lot of diversity within the entire cast of characters. One of the best parts of this book is the fact that the students come from all over the world.

Second, and here's the kicker, I didn't really like Rosie or Henry. They're literally the main protagonists in the story and yet they're like most boring and mundane characters in this book. They both seemed childish, Rosie especially, and parts of it read more like Middle Grade than YA. I related to both characters on certain levels; Henry's desire and need to succeed while trying to balance having fun, and Rosie's unyielding love of her family and role as sister in that unit. The whole group worked really well together, but the fact that I only liked Henry and Rosie in those group interactions was kind of a low point for me.

The writing in this is spot on, however. One of my favorite things about Stephanie Kate Strohm's work is that her writing is always so light and airy and makes reading her books a complete joy. She's mastered the art of 'playful banter' and wields it well in this romantic comedy. In fact, this banter is the main reason I enjoyed reading this. I definitely didn't hate this book, it was a fun read, it just wasn't more than that. I went into this expecting to be blown away the way I was with Prince in Disguise, but ended up being let down by the lack luster plot line and equally stagnant characters.

** spoiler alert ** I received Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm from Netgalley. This has no impact on my thoughts. My thoughts are my own.

Love à la Mode was a three star rating for me. I liked the cooking school plot very much and the friendships, though I wasn't a fan of the instant romance moments on the plane even though they never got together officially until later on in the book. I did like the plot between Rosie and Bodie, especially how he figured out she was a baker not a chef like everybody else. This story wasn't badly written, but it was just ok for me.

It's a good read if you are looking for a young adult contemporary book set in Paris at a cooking school with a side of an instant romance plot.

I will post this to my blog probably when I have more mini reviews to add for a mini review post. Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read it!

Rosie and Henry meet on the plane taking them to study at a prestigious culinary program in Paris. They have an immediate spark and it seems like they might have begun a relationship when they kiss a few weeks later, but then a series of complications gets in the way. Henry want to be a chef more than anything but his mother is pushing him to keep his options open for college or another career. In order to "help" him think about other opportunities, she talks with his teachers and asks them to assign him extra work. Now he is stressed out with his nonstop schedule and the pressure of trying to keep his grades high enough to satisfy his mom. Rosie, meanwhile, wants to be a pastry chef and makes the best cakes, breads and desserts ever. Unfortunately, she is not as great at all the other cooking and is worried she will be asked to leave the school if she doesn't measure up. Throw into the mix the hot son of a celebrity chef to further complicate things for Rosie and Henry.

As I expected, this is a light romance following typical romance conventions. Even so, it is very frustrating to me that the couple can't get together sooner because they won't just TALK to each other! If Henry had just told Rosie about the pressure he's receiving from his mom she wouldn't have to wonder why he seems to be avoiding her, and so on. But putting that aside, I liked all the characters and the group of supportive friends surrounding our two main people. I was happy that hot boy Bodie wasn't a bad guy either, especially because I was sure he had somehow sabotaged Rosie's cheesecake. The only caveat I would include about this book is that while I really enjoyed the cooking atmosphere and liberal references to real life chefs, terminology, and TV shows, I don't know that will work for every reader. Perhaps the Parisian love affair will help overcome any issues for those who are not Chopped or Top Chef viewers. I know I felt the romance of the city as Strohm wove it into the storyline.

I absolutely loved Rosie and Henry! These two teenagers were such a delight to watch fall in love in the city of Paris. Reading this book made me feel like I was watching the Food Network; it was delightful, fun and kept my interest. There were great moments of romance and strong emotions. Both Henry and Rosie are enjoyable characters who are dealing with different but relatable issues. I feel like this book will be very desirable to some of my students who are obsessed with Food Network shows and looking for a great romance! Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this arc! Well done!

This book was so cute! I really enjoyed it, especially the places referenced that I have enjoyed myself. It was never named, but when they were at Place we Vogues I could just picture it because I fell in love with it just like Henry and Rosie did. Nice, enjoyable, and fun contempirary read.